Light emitting warning triangle

ABSTRACT

A warning triangle mainly contains a stationary side piece, two movable side pieces, a stationary support piece, a movable support piece, a battery chamber, circuit boards, and light emitting diodes (LEDs) to achieve superior visibility. Grooves are provided on the two sides and along the outer edges of the side pieces, and a circuit board with distributed LEDs is positioned inside each of the grooves and driven by the battery chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to warning triangles, and moreparticularly to a warning triangle having built-in light emittingdiodes.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Usually a warning triangle is set up at an appropriate distance alongthe road behind a broken-down automobile to warn oncoming drivers aboutthe potential hazard ahead.

The three sides of a warning triangle are usually separable for easystorage in the trunk of the automobile. When setting up the warningtriangle, its three sides are usually pin-joined at their ends with eachother and the triangular sign thus formed is positioned on a sturdystand. Reflection plates are affixed to the three sides of the warningtriangle, and the inner planes of the reflection plates are saw-toothedfor enhanced reflectivity.

Some manufacturers install lamps in front of the saw-toothed, reflectiveinner planes inside the reflection plates, in the hope of increasing thewarning triangle's visibility. Within a short distance, the visibilityis indeed increased as the light of the lamps are also reflected by theinner planes of the reflection plates. However, at a farther distancefrom the warning triangle, the visibility actually decreases as thereflectivity of the reflection plates are impaired by the lamps blockingthe light incident onto the inner planes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provides a warningtriangle which resolves the foregoing shortcomings of conventionalwarning triangles. The present invention mainly contains a stationaryside piece, two movable side pieces, a stationary support piece, amovable support piece, a battery chamber, circuit boards, and lightemitting diodes (LEDs) to achieve superior visibility.

A major aspect of the present invention is that grooves are provided onthe two sides and along the outer edges of the side pieces, and acircuit board with distributed LEDs is positioned inside each of thegrooves and sealed by a transparent cover.

Another major aspect of the present invention is that the circuit boardcan be positioned on both sides of the side pieces, or on one of thesides only. Therefore the warning triangle of the present invention canbe used to alert drivers from both ways of the road, or just from one ofthe directions.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction tothe present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view showing the various components ofa warning triangle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the warning triangle of FIG. 1 withits support pieces folded.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C is a sectional view showing the warning triangle ofFIG. 2, along with details of the side pieces.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the warning triangle of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the warning triangle of FIG. 1 whenit is completely folded.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing how the warning triangle isunfolded from the folded state of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7A, 7B is a sectional view showing a warning triangle according toanother embodiment of the present invention, along with details of theside pieces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and arenot intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, the warning triangle according to anembodiment of the present invention contains a stationary side piece 10,two movable side pieces 11, a stationary support piece 20, a movablesupport piece 21, a battery chamber 40, circuit boards 50, and lightemitting diodes (LEDs) 51.

The stationary side piece 10, as the bottom side of the warningtriangle, is fixedly attached the stationary support piece 20. The twomovable side pieces 11 have one of their ends pin-joined to and therebycan pivot around the two ends of the stationary side piece 10respectively. As the two movable side pieces 11 are at an appropriateincluded angle with the stationary side piece 10, the other ends of themovable side pieces 11 can be joined together to complete the triangularshape of the warning triangle. Reflection plates 30 of compatible shapesto the side pieces 10 and 11 are provided on the two sides of the sidepieces 10 and 11. Grooves 61 are provided on the two sides and along theouter edge of each of the side pieces 10 and 11. A circuit board 50having distributed LEDs 51 is placed inside each groove 61, as shown inFIG. 1 and in the cross-sectional view along the A-A line in FIGS. 3A,3B & 3C. Atransparent cover 60 is then used to seal the groove 61.Please note that, in an alternative embodiment, the reflection platescan be provided on a single side of the side pieces 10 and 11 only, asshown in FIGS. 7A & 7B. The number and color of the LEDs 51 and how theyare flashed can be varied according to the application. The movablesupport piece 21 is pin-joined to the stationary support piece 20 sothat they can be folded together, or unfolded to become perpendicularwith each other to provide steady support to the triangle formed by theside pieces 10 and 11.

The battery chamber 40 housing a number of, say, AAA batteries, ispositioned between the stationary side piece 10 and support piece 20,and provides electricity to the circuit boards 50 and the LEDs 51. Thepresent embodiment can also be powered by the 12V˜24V DC voltage of thecar battery by appropriate electrical connection through the sockets 42.There is also a power switch 41 for turning on and off of the warningtriangle. When the present embodiment is turned on, the LEDs 51 will beflashed by the circuit boards 50 for enhanced visibility. Conductionwires 71 are extended from the battery chamber 40 to the circuit boards50 of the two movable side pieces 11. At where the stationary side piece10 and the two movable side pieces 11 meet, the side piece 10 and themovable side pieces 11 all have appropriate wire ducts 70 allowing theconduction wires 71 to pass through.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. A warning triangle, comprising a stationary side piece and twomovable side pieces, said two movable side pieces having one of theirends pin-joined to and thereby being able to pivot around the two endsof said stationary side piece respectively to have their other endsjoined together to complete a triangular shape, a reflection plate beingprovided on at least one side of each of said stationary and movableside pieces, a groove being provided on at least one side and along theouter edge of each of said stationary and movable side pieces; astationary support piece and a movable support piece flexibly joinedtogether that can be folded and unfolded, said stationary side piecebeing fixed attached to said stationary support piece; a plurality ofcircuit boards, each of which having a plurality of light emittingdiodes, and being housed in one of said grooves of said stationary andmovable side pieces; and a battery chamber housing at least a battery toprovide electricity to said circuit boards via appropriate electricalconnection.